1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an article dropping apparatus used for dropping articles, for example, into containers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent No. 3088772 discloses an article dropping apparatus used for dropping articles that are U-shaped bags formed of plastic films and stacked in a layered manner. The article dropping apparatus includes a shutter device having a pair of shutters with end portions opposed to each other. In the state where the shutters are closed such that their end portions are positioned close to each other, the stacked articles may be put on the shutter device so as to straddle the end portions. Thereafter, the shutters are opened such that their end portions move away from each other. When this occurs, that the stacked articles may be dropped into a container that have an upper opening located below the shutter device. In this way, the stacked articles can be dropped into the container for subsequent packaging while the stacked state of the stacked articles is maintained.
However, as the stacked articles are dropped from the shutter device, they may be deformed or flexed such that their central portions are concaved downward. For this reason, the technique of the above patent may not be applied to articles such as wrapping sheets used for gyoza (an Asian food). The commercial value of the wrapping sheets may be lowered when they are deformed in this way.
Therefore, there has been a need in the art for a technique of inhibiting articles from being flexed when the articles are dropped from a shutter device.